One of the most the most common fibromyalgia patterns is the “in pain can’t sleep” one. It’s hard enough getting the type of sleep that allows you to feel rested, but when you factor in pain interfering with sleep — well! It’s no wonder you can be a bundle of misery in the morning.
During my time as a #fibrowarriorgoddess I’ve encountered several different sleep interference cycles and patterns, but the most persistent is pain. Not only that, it’s pain that comes in varying grades, degrees, or tones.
My focus today is the low-grade type, the one that has you tossing and turning because you can’t find a spot to lie still long enough to fall asleep before discomfort becomes deep, aching, unadulterated pain.
I’ve got other strategies for the more intense sleep disruptors that I’ll deal with in other articles, but for today, let’s go with what I call the “rotisserie chicken” pain pattern.
What to do when you hit the “in pain can’t sleep” cycle.
First things first, tick off your supplementation. Have you taken your magnesium, calcium and or other preferred muscle relaxant/nervous system support?
If you have and you’re still dealing with the “in pain can’t sleep” cycle here’s what to do next:
Breathe.
Of course, you’re already breathing, because you’re alive and reading this, right!
What I mean is, a particular type of breath that brings a quality of lightness and ease that allows you to rest, even if you still don’t quite drift off to deep sleep.
Angel breath for rotisserie chicken style “in pain can’t sleep”.
Here’s the basic outline of what I do when I’m struggling to find comfort long enough to fall asleep. Feel free to modify this to better suit your situation.
Find a position that gives you relative comfort for a reasonable amount of time, say at least 10 minutes, before you have to move. For me, it’s usually on my back with a pillow supporting my lower legs between knees and ankles.
Arrange your back, neck, hips, arms and legs so you feel aligned without having to consciously hold any part of yourself in this position.
Angel Breath in 5 easy steps
- Bring your attention to your breath and rest with it for a couple of breaths.
- Call on the angels and ask them to help you fall into a deeply delicious and restorative sleep, easily and quickly.
- Then using your imagination, see or feel your breath coming through the crown of your head.
- With each in-breath see or feel white light being drawn in through the crown of your head. With every out-breath imagine this white light starting to spread softly and easily deeper into your body.
- Your in-breath invites more and more white light into your body while your out-breath invites this light deeper and deeper into your body.
So with every breath, you imagine white light streaming softly through the crown of your head and gently filling your head …
Then your neck …
Then your upper chest and shoulders …
And so on.
Do this exercise gently, with compassion for yourself, and allow yourself to experience the softness of the energy of this white light moving into your body breath by breath.
I very rarely make it beyond my upper abdomen before I’m sound asleep.
Remember, this exercise works best with low-grade pain, the type that won’t let you settle in comfort no matter what position you try.
I’ve got strategies for stronger pain which I’ll share in subsequent blog articles.
NOTE about PAINSOMNIA: I saw this term used somewhere online, I can’t remember where, which is a shame because I’d love to give them a shout-out for creating this incredibly apt term!
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